There are some questions in every child's unbridled imaginative minds. Questions like why the Titanic sank, perhaps. Or how do firemen walk into fire and come out unscathed? Then, there are questions like how a spacecraft handles temperatures up to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit while re-entering Earth's atmosphere. To satisfy young and curious minds, IIT Delhi is conducting its third edition of the SciTech Spins lecture series and this time, they will be talking about 'Material that Matter'.
The two-part lecture will be delivered on November 20 at 10 am by Professors Ashok K Ganguli and Rajesh Prasad from the Department of Chemistry and Department of Materials Science and Engineering respectively. These lectures are aimed at school students, especially those in Classes IX to XII. And not just that. These lectures will be accompanied by laboratory demonstrations. Students and anyone interested can watch the livestream on IIT Delhi's official YouTube channel.
Prof Prasad, whose talk is titled 'Sinking of Ships and Falling of Aircrafts: The Science of Deformation', with the help of some simple experiments using balloons and paper strips, will explain to the students some interesting situations — like when a steel hammer hits an ice block, what breaks is ice and not the hammer, but when the steel hull of the Titanic hit an iceberg, why did it break into two and sink. On the other hand, Prof Ganguli's talk, which is titled 'Materials in Nature and for the Future' will focus on what one can learn from nature. Students can also learn about designing new materials for smart windows, imaging of interiors of cells, protecting surfaces from bacteria and other modern technologies for handling extreme temperatures.
All students registering for the lecture will be given e-certificates. However, they have to be nominated by their respective schools to attend the lecture. The students who register and attend this lecture will also be invited to 'Open House', an annual intellectual fest that provides a platform to school students to connect with some of the leading researchers in the field of Science and Technology.
So, how can you register? "Schools wishing to nominate their students for SciTech Spins may reach out to IIT Delhi through Associate Dean, Academic Outreach & New Initiatives, IIT Delhi — adoni@iitd.ac.in; acadoutrea
